In the installation of, or renovation of, hardwood flooring, the surface of hardwood floors must be sanded. Sanding is usually carried out with one of two types of pieces of equipment. The simplest form of equipment is the so-called drum sander. This piece of equipment comprises a cylindrical drum, around which a strip of abrasive material is secured. A motor rotates the drum. The drum is moved around the hardwood floor surface, and sands it smooth.
This type of equipment is reasonably economic to operate and is economical in its consumption of abrasive paper. However, the quality of surface finish is somewhat impaired. This is due to the gap at each end of the strip.
The other form of equipment which is used for this purpose is a so-called belt sander. In this type of equipment, a drum is provided, and adjacent the drum a tension roller is provided. The abrasive material consists of an endless belt of abrasive material. The belt is arranged around the drum and the tension roller. The drum is then rotated by a motor, thus causing the belt to abrade the hardwood surface. The type of equipment produces a higher quality surface finish in use. However, it also consumes more expensive materials, since the endless belts are much more expensive than simple strips of abrasive material used on drum type sanders. As a result, belt sanders are used principally for the final or finish sanding of the floor after the drum sander has been used.
In the past, flooring installers and service persons have usually been obliged to purchase both belt sanders and drum sanders. This enabled them to carry out both forms of operation at whatever locations were required. However, there are various disadvantages to this practice. In the first place the flooring installer must purchase two relatively expensive pieces of equipment, or possibly more than two, depending on the size of the operation. If one or other of the machines becomes unserviceable, then he is only capable of carrying out one operation, but not the other. Similarly, in a larger operation, where a company may have several pieces of both equipment, they must usually send out both a belt sander and a drum sander to the same job site.
If one or other of these pieces of equipment breaks down, then there is of course down time on that particular job, until the piece of equipment has been repaired.
It is desirable to provide a single piece of equipment, which can be used for both belt sanding and drum sanding alternatively. In this way, flooring installers and servicemen may buy perhaps only two or three pieces of equipment, or more, depending on the size of the operation. They are then completely flexible to carry out both functions, one after the other or in different locations where desired. When a piece of equipment breaks down, then it can be easily replaced by another piece of the same equipment. There will then be substantial savings in capital investment to these operators and service people and at the same time, they will be able to provide their service in a more efficient and expeditious manner than with two different pieces of equipment described above.